Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County

ironweed

Wildflowers Part I: Rich Variety in a Unique Environment

One of the joys of living among Western North Carolina’s mountains is discovering wildflowers—alone or in profusion: beside a hiking trail, along the roadside, or in an open meadow. Some 300 different wildflower species grow along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and 1,500 flowering trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species grace the Great Smoky Mountains, more than any other national park in North America!

spring bloomer, leaves resemble brook trout
Trout Lily

Are wildflowers native plants?
According to the North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook: “Native plants are those species that evolved naturally in a region without any major change or improvement by humans. The term wildflower is often used to describe native plants, but may also refer to naturalized plants that are not indigenous to the region.”

People import exotic wildflowers and help them spread through landscape-altering activities such as mowing, farming, logging, and development. Nature—in the form of wind, floods, landslides, and fire, as well as birds, animals, and insects—also spread these alien plant species!

Why such wildflower diversity in the Appalachians?
The Appalachian Mountains provide a unique environment that offers an incredible variety of habitats to support our diverse wildflower population. Plants settle where the environmental conditions are best suited to their survival. And here in Western North Carolina, many different wildflower species have found their “ecological niche.”

Temperature and moisture. A wide range in elevation offers wildflowers a variety of temperatures and moisture levels. The Blue Ridge Parkway at its lowest point is 649 feet above sea level at the James River Visitor Center in Virginia and ascends to 6,684 feet at Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina—the highest point east of the Mississippi. This dramatic change in elevation creates several different climate zones ranging from warm to cool. Temperatures can vary as much as 20ºF in relatively short distances. The lower elevations have an average of 200 frost-free days each year, while higher elevations have only 100 frost-free days! The Appalachians receive abundant annual rainfall, but only an average of 50 to 55 inches at lower elevations, in contrast to 80 to 90 inches at higher elevations.

Aspect. The direction a slope faces and its shape (concave cove, convex hillside, or ridgeline) affects the amount of sunlight, rainfall, and wind protection that wildflowers receive. North-facing slopes are shady and cooler than sunnier south- and west-oriented slopes. A shady cove nestled between two mountains is moist, and cool, while a ridge exposed to the sun is hot and dry.

Soil. Soil conditions also influence which wildflowers take root. Sandstone and acidic bedrock are the predominant soil types in the southern Appalachians, but there are also areas of less acidic limestone soils rich in calcium. Evergreen and deciduous woodlands generate nutrient-rich organic matter on forest floors that supports many wildflowers.

Wildflower shows for all seasons
These environmental conditions not only determine where specific wildflower species thrive, they also determine when. Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), a native flowering understory tree, blooms in winter to late fall and into January. Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) begins flowering in January. The main wildflower shows debut in mid-March at lower elevations and in mid-May at higher elevations. Native flowering trees and shrubs (dogwood (Cornus florida), redbud (Cercis canadensis), rhododendrons (Rhododendron catawbiense and R. maximum), and flame azalea (Rhododendron austrinum) take center stage in April, May, and June. Summer brings ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium fistulosum), and black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) to roadsides and meadows. The final curtain call that signals season’s end comes late-October to mid-November when goldenrods (Solidago spp.) and asters (Aster spp.) abound.

self seeding annual, blooms summer to fall
Jewelweed
Grows to 10 feet tall
New York Ironweed

Fernleaved  phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida) germinates in fall to provide a leafy-green winter carpet before early spring flowering, while most wildflowers don’t leaf out until spring.

Phacelia in winter showing rosette of leaves

Ephemerals, like Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) and trillium (Trillium spp.), emerge in early spring well before trees leaf out and when they can take full advantage of sunlight reaching the forest floor. They flower, fruit, and die back all within a short two-month period. By May or June, the ephemerals have no leaves, stems, or above ground structures to signal the hiker of their existence. They go dormant and disappear below ground until the next spring.

Spring ephemeral
Dutchman’s breeches

Wherever you hike or drive in the Appalachians, you’ll find the wildflower display changes day to day and mile to mile. These jewels of the mountains await your discovery.

Article written by Beth Leonard, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

Stay tuned
Wildflowers Part II outlines identification characteristics and conservation efforts.
Wildflowers Part III describes a few of the most common southern Appalachian wildflowers.
Wildflowers Part IV discusses gardening with wildflowers.

Learn more
NC State Extension Plants
Photographs and searchable lists of wildflowers by common and scientific names.
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/category/wildflowers/4/?category=wildflowers&s=common_name

North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook
Chapter 10 Herbaceous Ornamentals, Section IX. Wildflowers
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/10-herbaceous-ornamentals#section_heading_9171

 

A Dilemma: “Weed” or Pollinators’ Best Friend?

No, this poster is not an advertisement to plant more thistles! As part of a class on the need for pollinator habitat, it provoked questions and the rethinking of some old ideas.

Thistle_weed or pollinator forage
Thistle

A patch of any kind of flowers covered with bees and butterflies is a bit like a soda fountain or candy counter jammed with kids. Pollinators choose flowers that are close by, abundant, and shaped so their tongues can reach the rich reward inside—nectar! Flowering weeds—what we gardeners sometimes define as a “plant out of place”—fit all these requirements. And so, pollinators discovered the virtues of flowering weeds millennia ago.

Maybe it’s time to take a new look at your lawn and garden weeds, through the lens of these creatures who are responsible for so many of the fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and oils we eat. Maybe you, too, will discover the virtues of weeds already valued by our pollinators.

What pollinators need
All 4000 native bee species, as well as imported honey bees, depend on flowers for food! They get carbohydrates from the sugary nectars and proteins and fats from flower pollen. Moths and butterflies also require the foliage of specific host plants, in addition to their flowers, to provide food for their hatched butterfly and moth eggs. 

Flowering spring “weeds”
With the arrival of spring, early-emerging solitary bees, such as the mason bees, go to work pollinating berries and tree fruits. Mated bumble bee queens are coming out of hibernation to begin nest construction and egg laying. Perennial honey bee colonies build up their populations from the 10,000-strong winter clusters to mighty summer-foraging forces of 50,000 or more!

Many winter- and early spring-flowering weeds provide these pollinators much-needed food when little else is in bloom. Purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), for example, are important nectar and pollen sources.

Flowering fall “weeds”
Fall is an equally busy feeding time for our pollinators. Wasps and hornets seem to know that their nests will soon be empty. Bumble bees are rearing queens. Honey bees are filling hives with honey they will need to survive the winter. They’re also rearing important winter bees with special fat body glands that are repositories of nutrition for babies that will hatch after the winter solstice.

Fall-blooming asters (Symphotrichum spp.), goldenrods (Solidago spp.), Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium ssp.), and ironweed (Vernonia, spp.)—all native plants that are often treated as weeds—provide significant staples at a time of frantic pollinator feeding when other blooming plants are in short supply.

Honey bees on butterfly weed
Honey bees on butterfly weed

A special note on butterfly weed vs. butterfly bush
Ironically, the plants with “weed” in their common names, milkweed and butterfly weed (Asclepias spp. and A. tuberosa), are the essential host plants required for Monarch butterfly reproduction. But, the foliage of butterfly bush (Buddleia spp.) is of no value to any moth or butterfly in the United States. Yes, butterfly bush flowers provide nectar, but the plants escape our landscapes and show up unbidden in the wild as plants out of place!

Is your landscape a food desert to pollinators?
Or does it include a smorgasbord of useful, attractive flowering plants? Adding native flowering annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs, and trees to your yard will provide foliage for butterfly and moth larvae, as well as flowers for all pollinators. In your lawn, white clover (Trifolium repens) blooms provide nectar in summer (and as a bonus, clover along with your grass clippings may put enough nitrogen back into the soil to fertilize your lawn). Richard Orlando, in Weeds in the Urban Landscape: Where They Come From, Why They’re Here, and How to Live with Them, notes that other low-growing flowering plants, such as thymes (Thymus spp.) and self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), are lovely and useful additions to a grass lawn.

Ironweed at garden edge_Eleanor_CC BY-NC 2.0
Ironweed at garden edge

You decide!
No one can—or should—tell you which plants are weeds and which are not. Of the uninvited guest plants in your yard, you decide: stay or go? Plants such as the early spring weeds can stay but not be allowed go to seed. Some may get to grow at the edge of the lawn. Some may be treasured native plants.

Options, decisions, and responsibilities abound. Just remember to use your pollinator lens from time to time when you head out to the garden to weed. Remember what A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh, says: “Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”

Article written by Diane Almond, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.           

For more information
Gardening for Pollinator Super Heroes!
by NC Cooperative Extension

Orlando, Richard. Weeds in the Urban Landscape: Where They Come From, Why They’re Here, and How to Live with Them. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2018.
(Although the plant list is specific to California, the history, discussion on IPM, and notes on many plants are appropriate for WNC.)

Going Native with Plants: More Than Meets the Eye

Living in one of the oldest and most biodiverse places on earth, it’s easy to take our native plants for granted. Look beyond the showy favorites—rhododendron, mountain laurel, native azaleas, dogwood, and sourwood—and you’ll find beautifully understated plants that create welcoming wildlife habitats and gorgeous gardens. 

Why native plants matter
Native plants do much more than look pretty! There are horticultural and environmental reasons to integrate them into your home garden:

“The destruction of natural habitat is the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide. In fast-growing regions, development often fragments remaining natural habitats into smaller pieces that are less likely to support a range of ecosystem services. As natural areas disappear, residential landscapes become more important sources of nourishment and habitat for the many species needed to support healthy ecosystems.”
N.C. State Extension Gardener Handbook
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/12-native-plants

Take a page from Sherlock Holmes
Investigate the planting location. What does it tell you?
Soil: Is it well-drained or does it hold water? What is the pH? Some of our most showy native plants require specific soil conditions. The Turk’s Cap Lily, for example, likes rich, slightly acidic soil.
Light: How do the intensity and timing of direct sun and shade change throughout the day and during each growing season?
Aspect: Does the garden face north/south/east/west?
Space: Can both the horizontal and vertical space accommodate mature plants? Some grasses and wildflowers grow several feet tall!
Elevation: What is your altitude? Even a few hundred feet in altitude change can make a difference in frost hardiness. 

Mimic Mother Nature
Going native means focusing on plant diversity and layering. According to the authors of “Landscaping for Wildlife with Native Plants” (https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/landscaping-for-wildlife-with-native-plants): “Clustering similar types of vegetation allows wildlife easy access to seasonally abundant food sources without excessive movement and increased exposure to predators.” Create layers by planting low-growing plants and shrubs under taller ones. This produces a healthy environment in which birds can nest and feed.

Wildflowers that wow
Wildflowers often come to mind when we think of native plants— for good reason. They attract pollinators and add vibrant color. Reliable choices for our region include: eastern bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana), eastern columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), and lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) for spring; butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and green-headed coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) for summer; and Joe-pye weed (Eutrochium fistulosum), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), and New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) for fall.

Gorgeous groundcovers
Instead of planting a cultivated groundcover, consider a native that thrives in shady areas. For color and impact, partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) is hard to beat. In the spring, its small white flowers are a striking contrast against the plant’s vibrant green leaves. In the fall its bright red berries look holiday-inspired. Green and gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) is a popular low-growing groundcover perfect for rock gardens or along a woodland path.

Fantastic ferns
They may not be show-stoppers, but in shade gardens nothing quite compares with a lush stand of ferns. Use cinnamon (Osmunda cinnamomea) and Christmas (Polystichum acrostichoides) ferns, for example, to provide a sturdy backdrop for their more delicate relatives like maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum).

Great grasses
It’s easy to overlook these hardy plants that provide a rich habitat for songbirds, skipper butterflies, and small mammals.  But to add height, texture, and delicate color to your garden, grasses provide a low-maintenance option. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), for example, has pink-tinged flower particles which create a cloud-like effect in mid-summer. Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) develops a blue cast in the summer that turns copper-colored in the fall and lasts through winter.

Resources
With so many choices available, making decisions about what is right for your garden can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are excellent resources for navigating the world of native plants. Purchase your plants from nurseries and gardens that specialize in propagating natives. Not only do plants harvested in the wild rarely survive, the practice of harvesting them degrades the very ecosystems we know and love.

NC Native Plant Society:
http://www.ncwildflower.org/native_plants/recommendations

Article written by Janet Moore, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.

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Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

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